"Serena, I grabbed another one of mine," Elara called through the door. "If you rip this one, I swear to the Gods I’m switching sides and joining Bellatrix."
Dex was still inside her. Still moving. Her body climbing again despite everything.
"Give what I want."
He saw her eyes flash gold again, wolf surging, and a need roared through his chest, possessive and barely human.
Her body seized involuntarily, and the noise that tore out of her was wrecked and not hers. It belonged to whatever part of her Dex had just unlocked.
"Fuck. Just like that," Dex whispered, already pumping cum into her again.
Elara spoke through the door. "Serena, we literally have five minutes. I’m going to assu the silence ans you’re having a very productive conversation in there."
Aegon clawed at the inside of his ribs, howling, and they were nowhere near done.
Dex stiffened, hating every second of this and pulled away from her.
"I will mark you if we keep going."
She was breathing hard, fighting the urge to pull him back into her, and looked away.
Elara entered just as Dex’s pants were back fully on and Serena stood from the counter.
Elara bit back a laugh. "Does the Dragon Prince want to lace this up himself?"
Dex opened his mouth, then closed it again.
"I’d pay to see any of you three—Alpha, Beta, or Gamma—try to lace one of these without ripping it clean in half."
That did it. Serena burst out laughing. The kind that fills a room with warmth.
Dex smiled. Her laugh was sothing that made him co undone. He kissed her forehead, hugging her again. He couldn’t stop touching her and he didn’t want to let go.
"Give us three minutes, she’ll be ready," Elara said.
He let go of her and left the room. His cock and wolf both protested, neither happy.
He’d been starved for her. Was it possible she felt even better than he rembered? Gods.
He needed her like he needed air and he was nowhere near done.
✦✦✦
The court reconvened in silence, and every person in the gallery was watching the wrong door.
Cass was led back to the stand, her face blotchy from crying, her hands still shaking.
But then the doors at the back of the chamber opened.
Everyone’s head turned.
Bellatrix Drakenfell walked in like she owned the room. Which, technically, she did.
She was immaculate. Hair swept up, not a strand out of place. Dress changed, the dust and wreckage of an hour ago erased so completely it might have been a hallucination. Her posture was flawless.
Her expression was the particular brand of bored superiority she reserved for events she considered beneath her but was attending anyway because no one else could be trusted to do it right.
She walked past the gallery. Past the noble families. Past the officers. Past Dex, who went very still. Past Serena, who stopped breathing.
She walked directly to the defendant’s box and stood beside Cass.
The hall forgot how to breathe.
Tiberon’s left eyebrow twitched. It was the most emotion he’d shown in public in six years.
"The Queen wishes to address the court?" His voice was asured, but Serena caught it. The faintest hitch. He hadn’t known.
"The Queen does." Bellatrix folded her hands in front of her. "I will be representing the accused."
The hall erupted.
Tiberon silenced it with a look. He studied his wife for a long mont. Whatever passed between them was invisible to the room, but Serena felt Dex tense beside her.
"Proceed," Tiberon said.
Bellatrix turned to face the gallery the way a woman turns to face a room full of people she’s already decided are wrong.
"This court has heard testimony that Cassandra Thorne laced the Crown Princess’s combat garnts with poison." She paused, letting the words settle. "It has also heard Cassandra’s claim that she disposed of the poison down the drain of her workshop. The court dismissed this claim on the grounds that there was no evidence. The court was wrong."
She let that land.
Nobody moved.
"As Queen, I oversee all operations within this castle. All of them. Including, apparently, the ones no one else bothers to think about."
She looked at Tiberon.
"The drains in the western workshop corridor were not tested during the initial investigation. I found that curious, given that the accused specifically stated she poured the substance down her workshop drain."
Tiberon’s expression did not change. His jaw, however, tightened by approximately one milliter. For him, the equivalent of throwing a chair.
"So I had them tested." Bellatrix snapped her fingers and a man in the crowd stood, handing her a sealed docunt. "The results confirm traces of the sa alchemical compound found in the combat suit lining. In the drain. Of her workshop. Precisely where she said she put it."
She handed the docunt to the court clerk like she was handing soone a grocery list.
The gallery was vibrating.
Dex stared at his mother with the expression of a man who had severely underestimated the enemy and was only now realizing it.
"Furthermore." Bellatrix was not finished. She was never finished until she decided she was finished. "I have called a witness. Perin Ardell, Senior Materials Inspector for the Crown’s wardrobe division."
A small, nervous man in an immaculate uniform stood from the second row. He looked like he had been preparing for this mont for approximately eleven minutes and was going to die.
"Mr. Ardell," Bellatrix said. "You inspect all materials before they are delivered to the Crown’s personal tailors. Is that correct?"
"Why, yes, Your Majesty."
"And did you inspect the material used for the Crown Princess’s combat garnts?"
"I did, Your Majesty."
"And what were your findings?"
The man swallowed. "The material was clean, Your Majesty. No toxins. No alchemical residue. I logged the inspection and signed off on the delivery myself."
"So the material was poison-free when it left your inspection."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"And poison-present when it reached the Crown Princess."
"That... that would appear to be the case, Your Majesty."
Bellatrix looked at the gallery. "The material was clean when it left inspection. It was poisoned when it reached the Princess. I’ll let the court do the math. Take your ti."
Perin Ardell sat down so fast he nearly missed his chair. The man beside him shifted six inches away, as if proximity to testimony was contagious.
Serena glanced at Dex. His jaw worked like he was cycling through six responses and couldn’t land on one. It was the first ti she’d seen him speechless, and she wished she could enjoy it under better circumstances.
Hale’s mouth opened, then closed, then opened again. For a mont, he looked like a large, confused fish. Then he leaned over to Gavriel. "Did she just..."
"Yep," Gavriel whispered back.
"I need a drink."
Elara’s grip on Serena’s knee had not loosened. If anything, it had tightened. Her expression was the face of a woman watching soone do exactly what she would have done, but with a crown.
Tiberon sat perfectly still. He looked at the drain report. He looked at his wife. He looked at the drain report again.
"The court acknowledges the new evidence," he said. His voice betrayed nothing. His posture didn’t change either. But he set the docunt down with the very specific care of a man who was going to have a conversation with his wife later.
Bellatrix smiled. It was small, contained, and absolutely lethal.
"Now. If we’re done wasting the court’s ti with incomplete investigations, I believe the accused has an eight-year-old daughter waiting for her at ho."
She turned and walked back toward the gallery, her heels clicking on the stone with the exact rhythm of a woman who had never lost an argunt in her life and was not about to start today.
As she passed Serena, she didn’t look at her. Didn’t slow down. But her voice carried, quiet enough for only Serena and Dex to hear.
"Consider your leverage spent."
Serena’s stomach dropped. She’d played her only card, and Bellatrix had swept the table clean.
Bellatrix sat down. Crossed her legs. Folded her hands in her lap. And stared straight ahead as if she had been sitting there the entire ti and had no idea what anyone was looking at.
✦✦✦
Dex grabbed Serena’s hand without apology, lacing their fingers together. She looked down at their hands, then back up at him.
But he was looking straight ahead, like he didn’t notice. It was so obvious that it almost made Serena laugh.
He didn’t let go, even when they moved through the portal back to the castle. Serena expected she’d be going back to their quarters.
"You kicked a ghost in the balls and headbutted a queen in the sa week. You’re mine for the rest of the day. Argue and I’ll carry you."
Her lips tugged into a reluctant smile.
Every eye was on them as they walked. Glancing at their hands, then at them. Dex didn’t bother hiding that he noticed.
He puffed his chest out with pride. His posture straightened, chin lifted, and he walked like a man who wanted every person in the corridor to see exactly whose hand he was holding.
When they got to Velkaris, Serena looked at him. He didn’t say anything, or ask permission.
He jumped on, holding out his hand.
Serena stared at it, then back at him for a second.
"Are you coming, or do you need a formal invitation?"
"You’re ridiculous."
"You like it."
She took his hand. He shalessly pulled her to sit in front of him, arms locking around her.
Velkaris launched into the sky.
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